Just Folks: Lebanon man makes his mark on city zoning board

Newly appointed Lebanon Zoning Hearing Board member Ed Salem stands in front of his home in the 200 block of Mifflin Street, where he and his wife have lived for 46 years. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JOHN LATIMER)

On July 17, Ed Salem will finally be on the other side of the table.

Salem, 73, is the newest member of the Lebanon Zoning Hearing Board, having recently been appointed by Mayor Sherry Capello to replace longtime member Diana Reilly, who is moving out of the city.

Salem's learning curve should be a short one.

Since being appointed by Mayor Bob Anspach about six years ago, Salem has been serving as an alternate on the board, which meets on the third Wednesday of each month to rule on variance requests and other zoning issues.

Like a backup quarterback preparing for a game in which he's unlikely to play, Salem dutifully prepared for each meeting. But only twice during his term as an alternate, when there were not enough members to form a quorum on the five-member panel, was he ever called to cast a vote.

"I relish it. I really do," was Salem's response when asked how he feels about joining the board. "It is my way to give something back to the city."

Actually, Salem has been giving back to the city for a long time, including nearly a decade he served as president of the Lebanon Volunteer Firefighters Relief Association.

But perhaps his greatest contribution is simply being an involved citizen.

Salem is a regular attendee at City Council meetings, where he often brings up questions and concerns - like the illegal practice of trash trucks traveling down back alleys or the failure of inspectors to crack down on slumlords whose properties violate building codes - that keep council and Capello on their toes.

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But Salem's criticism is welcome, the mayor said.

"He tells it like it is," Capello said. "Sometimes it's positive. Other times it's not. But the great thing about Mr. Salem is he always does it in a very positive and respectful way. That's exactly what you want."

Members of City Council also welcome Salem's contributions, which was evidenced by their hardy endorsement of his appointment to the Zoning Hearing Board.

Salem said he has always taken an interest in the city and its government.

"I care about the City of Lebanon," he said. "That's why I go (to council meetings). I think it's terrible in a city the size of Lebanon that only a few people show up. And yet everybody has complaints."

Salem is not a native of Lebanon. He was raised in Myerstown, where he graduated from Myerstown High School in 1956. After working for several years at Valley Screen Printing, in 1962 he was drafted into the Army and eventually stationed in Germany.

The deployment put a serious crimp in Salem's personal life. He was engaged to his sweetheart, Dolores Immel, whom he met at the Myerstown swimming pool.

The inconvenience only delayed their plans. When Dolores finished her degree at St. Joseph's School of Nursing in Lancaster, she flew to Germany, where the couple were wed - twice.

The first was on Jan. 11, 1963, under German law by the burgermeister (mayor) of the small town they were living in. The next was the following day, under U.S. law, at a Catholic ceremony on Salem's military base.

The Jan. 12 date is the one the couple used to celebrate their 50th anniversary this year.

The Salems have lived their entire married life in a comfortable, two-story row home in the 200 block of Mifflin Street, where they raised three daughters - Theresa, Jacqueline and Sheila, who all live in the area. The walls of the cozy home are filled with family photos, including several of their three grandchildren.

The couple bought the house in 1967, Salem said, when he took a job as a machinist at Bethlehem Steel.

It was so close he could walk to work to the plant on Lincoln Avenue, and it was the perfect setup until 1983. That's when the bottom fell out of the steel industry, and Salem was fired.

"I was part of the first batch let go in the machinist shop," he recalled.

At age 47, Salem took time to land a new job, he said. Eventually he found one as a machine shop instructor at Frackville State Correctional Institute in Schuylkill County.

Despite the 45-mile one-way trip on I-81, Salem said, he enjoyed the job and stuck with it until retiring nine years ago at the age of 65.

Since then, Salem's retirement has been an active one.

The shelves of his home are filled with projects he's completed in his garage workshop, including a collection of lighthouses, clocks and trolley cars. Other shelves are lined with books. Many of them about the Civil War, which the avid reader and amateur historian counts among his favorites.

When he's not at home, you'll likely find Salem walking the streets of the city, including near the Norfolk Southern bridge project, which he has been monitoring since the outset.

"I have over 100 photos," he said.

With such an interest in Lebanon, one might think Salem would want to run for City Council. But he shakes his head at the suggestion. He believes handling constituent problems would overwhelm him.

"I get too involved when I'm committed," he said. "And I think that would be too much."

Each Monday in the Lebanon Daily News, "Just Folks" tells the stories of ordinary people who live, work and play in the Lebanon Valley.

Check out a compilation of the features that have appeared over the past year.

Do you or someone you know have an interesting story to tell? Contact the Lebanon Daily News or call 717-272-5611 and ask to speak with an editor on duty.